Safeguarding Australia’s Flora through a national network of native plant seed banks
2 016ANNUAL REPORT -17
safeguarding Australia’s flora CONTENTS
Letter from the Chair...... 3 Letter from the National Coordinator...... 4 Profiles of Our People...... 5 Who We Are...... 8 Australian Seed Bank Partnership Highlights for 2016–17...... 9 Goals And Achievements...... 11 Achievements around Australia towards our 1000 Species target...... 13 Future Directions...... 21 How You Can Help...... 23
Annual Financial Report for the year ending 30 June 2017...... 24 Governance of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership...... 29 Thank You—Supporters and associates...... 32 Partner organisations of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership...... 33
Abbreviations Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG) Brisbane Botanic Gardens (BBG) Published by: CHABG Inc., GPO Box 1777 Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium of South Australia (BGSH) Canberra, ACT, 2601, AUSTRALIA Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority (BGPA) October 2017 George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens (GBDBG) Prepared by: Damian Wrigley Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust (RBGDT) Editor: Alan Cummine, GoodWords Consulting Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) Design: Siobhan Duffy Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV) Cover: Boronia humifusa Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG) (Photo: Andrew Crawford, DBCA) The Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens Incorporated (CHABG Inc.) This page: A diversity of annuals with white Cephalipterum backdrop (Photo: Lesley Threatened Flora Seed Centre (TFSC), Department of Biodiversity Hammersley, BGPA) Conservation and Attractions (DBCA)
2 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
In a year of unprecedented global change, the Australian Seed Bank Partnership has seen its fair share, both in the natural environment and as an organisation. Our changing climate is putting pressure on native species. As habitats shrink and ecosystems shift in response to already altered conditions, it is increasingly challenging to secure viable collections of target species. Nevertheless, our skilled seed collectors continue to return from the field with encouraging collections of native seed for long-term conservation and research.
Organisationally, this year we said farewell to our long-term National Coordinator, Dr Lucy Sutherland. I thank Lucy for her many years of exemplary leadership. Also, because of her new role in South Australia, I welcome her as a member of CHABG. I also welcome our new National Coordinator, Damian Wrigley, who has hit the ground running, working closely with the Partners to secure support for future endeavours.
The Australian Seed Bank Partnership has done much to galvanise support for seed collecting and to build a strong, collaborative and enduring approach to seed conservation. In the past year, we have made great progress towards achieving our shared vision of a world where plants are appreciated for their important contribution to every facet of our society. With two years remaining in our current Business Plan and with the future of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation still to be determined, a collaborative approach to plant conservation is critical now more than ever. We must all redouble our efforts to ensure plant conservation continues to be a strong focus of the Convention of Biological Diversity in the years to come.
An encouraging indication of the plant community’s ability to maintain momentum was evident this year during the 6th Global Botanic Gardens Congress. This gathering of plant enthusiasts reaffirmed for me the importance of what we collectively strive to achieve, and how successfully we collaborate to secure meaningful outcomes for plant conservation. The congress was overflowing with inspiring stories—from individual botanic gardens to regional partnerships and global collaboration. A highlight for the Partnership was when the Australian PlantBank received the Global Seed Conservation Challenge Award for making the greatest progress in seed conservation. Many of these seeds were collected through Partnership‑funded initiatives.
It was also encouraging to hear that other countries are developing collaborative seed banking partnerships based on the Australian experience. Examples like these serve to remind me of what a special and influential initiative the Partnership has become, not only throughout Australia but on the global stage.
In 2021, the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria will host the 7th Global Botanic Gardens Congress, and the Partnership is well placed to showcase our many years of dedicated seed collecting in the Australian context. As we work towards this and other important milestones for our global community, I invite you to continue the journey with us—working together to ensure our shared seed conservation expertise continues to benefit Australia’s native species and the international seed banking community.
Professor Tim Entwisle Chair CHABG Inc.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 3 LETTER FROM THE NATIONAL COORDINATOR
I joined the Australian Seed Bank Partnership in March 2017 and was immediately struck by the incredible variety of work we deliver. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first few months in the role, meeting each of the Partners and the many others that help us achieve better outcomes for Australia’s flora. The many opportunities afforded to a national collaboration such as this are truly inspirational, and I look forward to working with you all over the coming years.
On behalf of the Partners, I would like to recognise Dr Lucy Sutherland for her dedication and exceptional leadership over much of the last decade. I congratulate Lucy on her appointment as Director of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium of South Australia and welcome her continued engagement with the Partnership through The Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens Inc. (CHABG). I am very grateful to Jessica Pink and Elly Love for their stewardship following Lucy’s departure.
This year the Partnership continued to focus on our core goals of collecting Australia’s threatened species, and improving and sharing our knowledge of their conservation throughout Australia and overseas. Our list of banked species continues to grow; we banked over 300 species that are new to Australia’s conservation seed banks. Our ability to respond to the needs of the seed-banking and restoration communities remains strong, and our input to industry standards and government policy at the national and international levels is an important activity.
We welcomed the opportunity to collect seed under The Threat Abatement Plan for disease in natural ecosystems caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi. This funding helped us to collect 27 taxa of threatened plant species throughout New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Our collectors targeted multiple populations to improve the genetic diversity of individual species held in our nation’s seed banks. We are now well placed to deliver research into the ability of these species to withstand the impacts of introduced pathogens.
I rounded out the year by attending the 6th Global Botanic Gardens Congress, which was a great opportunity to raise global awareness of our seed banking success. Internationally the Partnership enjoys an enviable reputation, and delegates from around the world are eager to learn and collaborate on global conservation issues, such as the impact of Austopuccinia psidii (Myrtle rust) on native species.
What resonated with me most was how fortunate we are that the leading botanic gardens throughout Australia collaborate on a national approach to seed conservation. Their long-term investment in the Partnership continues to provide Australia with unique opportunities to engage with the restoration and research sectors, with governments and Indigenous communities, and with conservation organisations both here and overseas. I thank the Director of National Parks and CHABG for their generous financial assistance that ensured the Partnership could once again engage in this important global forum. I look forward to joining the Partners to showcase more of our achievements in Melbourne in 2021.
In 2017–18, the Partnership will continue to raise awareness and build support for plant conservation. More than ever, climate change is seeing a convergence of effort between conservation and Indigenous communities, and this will be a key interest for the Partnership. We will explore opportunities and work to build long-lasting and productive collaborations for initiatives such as Crop Wild Relatives.
We are also working to secure additional resources in 2017–2018 that will enable us to expand our collecting program and to further contribute to the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership’s mission to bank 25 per cent of the world’s plant species by 2020.
I hope you enjoy reading this year’s report.
Damian Wrigley National Coordinator
4 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 PROFILES OF OUR PEOPLE
James Wood, Tasmanian Seed Conservation In December 2005 I moved to Tasmania to take on the role Centre, Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens of Seedbank Coordinator. Although primarily involved in the curation of collections, I also helped collect seed in the I have worked in and field and became more familiar with Tasmanian flora. Since around seed conservation 2011 my role has expanded to include planning and leading for 27 years, working for the seed bank collecting program for the Tasmanian Seed the Royal Botanic Gardens, Conservation Centre, and I am now the Seedbank Manager. Kew in the UK before taking up my current post Lorraine Cotter, Volunteer, Tasmanian in Tasmania in 2005. My Seed Conservation Centre interest in natural history After my retirement seems to run back as far Seedbank manager James as anyone can remember, Wood checking for female and move to Tasmania, Huon pine trees on the I thought I could add to but my interest in botany Pieman River. (Photo: RTBG) began in my mid-teens. my interest in botany by volunteering at the Royal During my degree, I took a placement year in the research Tasmanian Botanical lab of the Kew Gardens seed conservation program, looking Gardens (RTBG). I joined at seed dormancy and storage behaviour. This stimulated the team of Friends of the my interest in seed biology, and after completing my RTBG and jumped straight Lorraine collecting Telopea degree I took a support position at the Kew Gardens into the role of coordinator truncata (Tasmanian Waratah) Wakehurst nursery, growing plant material for the seed bank. seed on the Navarre Plains, of the small group of Central Plateau. During that time, I became interested in cultivating parasitic herbarium volunteers (Photo: James Wood, RTBG) plants and, in the process of trying to collate the published cataloguing the plants data, I developed skills in database development. growing in Tasmania. Gradually our role expanded to cleaning the seeds of endemic Tasmanian plants sent to After six years in the nursery, I took a position within the us by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank in the UK and learnt and the Environment. These were then packaged and the variety of practical skills needed to curate wild plant forwarded to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s Millennium seed collections. My nine years with the Millennium Seed Seed Bank in the UK. Bank was a wonderful time, dealing with a huge variety of species from all around the world. I became familiar with The Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre (TSCC) was the enormous variation in seed and fruit morphology, and established at the RTBG in 2005, and I was there from the learnt the difficulties of trying to determine what is and is very beginning, helping to process the growing collection not a viable seed, and what is a practical end-point when of seeds. This involved cleaning, cut-testing, counting cleaning collections. and ‘banking’ in the controlled conditions required for long‑term viable storage of the collection. I benefited greatly from my involvement in the germination testing of the Millennium Seed Bank collections. My role at the TSCC has expanded to scoring the Alongside the challenges of making good collections in germination tests, to seed collecting trips all over Tasmania, the field, successfully germinating wild plant species pose and to any general jobs that need doing. TSCC manager, some of the biggest challenges in running a seed bank. James Wood, encourages participation by volunteers in Working with the Kew staff and handling very diverse most areas of the seed bank operations, from collecting material helped me come to grips with the science and seed in the wild, to the germination tests, helping with seed practical realities of turning seeds into plants. During this orchards, and occasionally planting out young seedlings period, I learnt to maintain and analyse germination data, in the environment. The work is varied, stimulating and and developed simple in-house applications to predict always interesting. germination requirements for new collections.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 5 Shelley Witham, Nursery Horticulturist, Andre Messina, Seedbank Coordinator, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, WA Victorian Conservation Seedbank, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria My interest in horticulture stemmed from a rural upbringing on a farm in Western Australia, a strong connection to My first contact with the Victorian Conservation Seedbank the natural environment, and a mother who was an avid was as a volunteer on a field trip in November 2005. I had gardener. I initially worked as a Clinical Dietician, but, as my just completed my honours studies in plant taxonomy in passion for Western Australian flora developed, I decided conjunction with the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV). to change careers and I maintained an association with the Gardens, undertaking a applied for a three-year summer studentship and then a PhD investigating the daisy Horticultural Traineeship genus Olearia. with the Kings Park and Botanic Garden. My principal interest has been plant taxonomy, with a focus on the distribution and ecological requirements On completing my of species, and on identifying and conserving rare and traineeship, I successfully threatened species. But most of all I enjoy getting into the applied for a Nursery bush. During my studies and other survey work, I have had Horticulturist position Shelley in the seed vault at many opportunities over the past ten years to see much of at Kings Park. The role Kings Park. (Photo: BGPA) Victoria’s plant life. is inspiring due to the practical application of scientific research, the physical side I completed my PhD in of nursery work, and the visual aesthetics of the amazing 2013, and the next year was range of native flora that I work with every day. offered a part-time job at RBGV as a Flora Writer. I was In 2016, I was assigned to relocate our entire seed responsible for updating collections from chest freezers to the new purpose-built and creating species seed bank facilities. This included conducting a full audit profiles for the new online of the collector, provenance, name currency and seed Flora of Victoria – ‘VicFlora’ weight; repackaging and relabeling; and then updating (https://vicflora.rbg.vic. Grey Mangrove Avicennia the horticultural database accordingly. I also had to re-dry gov.au/). Not long after my marina subsp. australasica and the entire threatened flora collection and often undertook the location is Stony Point, arrival at RBGV, our former Victoria. (Photo: Rachel Kelson) detective work, consulting old paper records, herbarium Seedbank Coordinator, Jeff specimens, and various staff and collectors. I have a Jeanes, decided to hang tendency to leave no stone (or seed) unturned! up his seed-bag to pursue life in regional Victoria, and some nine years after my first taste of seed collection I was given Most of the work was done in the new drying room at a the opportunity to take over his role. consistent 15 degrees and 15 per cent humidity, which was quite chilly but worth the effort, knowing that our Over the past three years I have enjoyed many seed data accuracy has improved and the collections are stored collection trips throughout Victoria, chasing down some to international standards. It was a slow, methodical and of our rarest species. One of my memorable ‘holy grail’ detailed procedure, but it gave me great satisfaction to species was Epilobium brunnescens subsp. beaugleholei, work with such a valuable conservation resource, setting known in Victoria from a single sheltered cliff-face, where up improved processes for future use of the seed bank, and it is constantly irrigated by the mist of an alpine waterfall. making access to the collections and associated data more This species is now growing at RBGV as a ‘seed-orchard’ user-friendly. I have now returned to my nursery role, in crop from which we hope to make a collection later which I continue to benefit from the revised organisation of this year. the seed bank.
6 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 Along with planning and undertaking collecting trips, My first role included my role involves cleaning, processing and storing seed overseeing capacity collections. Much of this has been new to me, and in 2016 development and it was my good fortune to attend the seed conservation technology transfer across techniques training at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s the Millennium Seed Bank Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst in the UK, to further Partnership (MSBP), which improve my knowledge and understanding of the seed at the time included 95 bank process and seed science. separate countries and territories. Since 2015 my Elinor Breman in front of the Conservation seed banking has been an unexpected turn role has enabled me to rewilding the UK gardens at in my career, but it has opened up a new door into the the Royal Botanic Gardens, build partnerships and Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank. always intriguing science of botany. projects in Australia, (Photo: Naomi Carvey, MSBP) Europe and the Middle Elinor Breman, Conservation Partnership East. Working with the Australian Seed Bank Partnership is Coordinator, Millennium Seed Bank, Royal one of the highlights of this role. I have had the privilege Botanic Gardens, Kew of getting to know those working at the seed banks across Australia, and have been impressed with and infected Growing up in London (albeit with a great garden), I was by their enthusiasm and can-do attitude. I attend the on the lookout for broader experiences away from the annual steering committee meeting and try to visit three urban environment. This led me to take part in a number Partner seed banks a year—as well as fitting in fieldwork of expeditions that took me from the Rocky Mountains where possible! of Canada, through the jungles of Borneo, and into the wilds of Nepal. My fascination with plants had begun, For a number of years, the Millennium Seed Bank and I was hooked. Partnership has been undertaking seed bank reviews against the MSBP Seed Conservation Standards. My interest in conservation and landscape ecology led me These reviews ensure that the seeds conserved by our to study plant sciences before heading off to Costa Rica to international partners are of the highest possible quality, practise my new skills in the field at the La Selva Biological and it looks like Australia will be the first continent to be Reserve. After a Masters degree in forestry and land-use, I fully assessed. I continue to work closely with the Australian headed off once more—this time to Australia. An internship Seed Bank Partnership, and a new project conserving with the then Victorian State Forestry Department took ‘plants on the precipice’ is on its way. me to Orbost and Ballarat, where I explored some of the amazing native forests in the region. During my time in I continue to travel and to learn, and each day I am grateful Australia, I travelled extensively and backpacked my way to have a job that helps contribute towards the safe future around the country for six months, experiencing the of plants on our planet. extensive variety of this wonderful continent.
Having completed a PhD in paleoecology focused on long-term vegetation change in South Africa, I continued to work as an academic for a number of years. In 2013 I moved to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and started work at the Millennium Seed Bank.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 7 WHO WE ARE
The Australian Seed Bank Partnership is a national collaboration of nine conservation seed banks and two flora-focused organisations. The Partnership bridges the gap between policy-makers, researchers and the conservation and restoration sectors to help safeguard Australia’s plant populations and communities.
Seed banking is the principal tool for the safe and efficient storage of wild plant genetic material. A sound understanding of seed harvest, storage and germination is crucial to combating the global decline of plant diversity. Together, these seed collections and the understanding Anne Cochrane and Andrew Crawford give an early morning of seed technology underpin our efforts to protect and tour of the Threatened Flora Seed Centre in Perth before day two of our face-to-face meeting in April 2017. The Partners restore natural ecosystems. Our Partners generously provide use these opportunities to compare facilities and to share resources and knowledge that support the management of their knowledge of tackling seed conservation using different technologies. The tours are an excellent forum to share candid plant species and communities, and our collaborative efforts feedback on specific equipment, often improving resourcing offer insurance against further loss. decisions in other seed banks throughout the country.
Our nationally cooperative initiatives focus on seed banking, research, knowledge sharing and capacity building. We follow internationally recognised protocols for collecting and storing the seed of Australian native plants. We record environmental data crucial to our role in plant conservation, and make it openly available through the Australian Seed Bank online. Our research is vital in establishing germination protocols and in building the knowledge that helps practitioners restore plant communities throughout Australia’s diverse landscapes. Our Partners have discovered new species, identified previously unknown populations, Seed collectors at the Australian PlantBank made their first and rediscovered species previously thought to be extinct. seed collections of Prosanthera marifolia (Seaforth Mintbush), We share our knowledge and skills, collectively manage a species that until recently was thought to be extinct. Collecting and conserving seed provides the Partnership with risk, and develop and use regional expertise to optimise the the opportunity to do research that can help to improve the effective use of our resources. success of conservation efforts.
Our Vision A future where Australia’s native plant diversity is valued, understood and conserved for the benefit of all.
Our Mission A national effort to conserve Australia’s native plant diversity through collaborative and sustainable seed collecting, banking, research and knowledge sharing. Nicotiana burbigeae flower Witjira National Park. (Photo: Seed Conservation Centre, BGSH)
8 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 AUSTRALIAN SEED BANK PARTNERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2016–17
Seeds in the international spotlight in Perth, Western Australia For five days in October 2016, members of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership joined seed experts from around the world for a science workshop on seeds at Kings Park, Western Australia. In partnership with the CSIRO and the Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority hosted 30 scientists and post‑graduate students from Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, the UK and the USA.
Participants worked on creating the first-ever global standards to describe, measure, analyse and record information about seeds, with the aim that they be used in The Australian PlantBank made the greatest contribution a global database. Compared with plants, for which global to seed banking since the launch of the Awards in 2015, by collecting, storing and studying viable seeds databases on traits already exist, relatively little is known for the conservation of the flora of New South Wales. about the complex traits and behaviour of seeds, despite (Photo: Damian Wrigley) their essential role in plant survival and conservation.
The workshop focused on defining the functional 6th Global Botanic Gardens Congress characters of seeds, such as the morphological, in Geneva, Switzerland physiological, and biochemical features that influence how they behave in the environment—otherwise known In June 2017, at the 6th Global Botanic Gardens Congress as seed traits. When complete, the new standards will in Switzerland, we shared our achievements in the contribute to stronger international collaborations in seed conservation of Australia’s threatened plants, thanks to science and will set directions for future research in seed our diverse and collaborative partnership. The congress and plant conservation. also provided a valuable opportunity for the new National Coordinator to meet the multitude of global supporters for seed conservation.
During the closing ceremony, Botanic Gardens Conservation International presented the Australian PlantBank with a Global Seed Conservation Challenge Award. Of the 558 seed collections made by PlantBank since January 2015, the Partnership supported the collection of 108 species now banked at the Millennium Seed Bank, 39 of which are listed as threatened in New South Wales.
Seed Science Workshop participants enjoying the mid‑week field trip that traversed hotspots of biodiversity in the south‑west of Western Australia, including Mt Lesueur National Park. (Photo: BGPA)
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 9 Improving seed bank diversity to New seeds in the bank combat emerging disease This year the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens joined The Threat Abatement Plan for disease in natural forces with the Australian National Botanic Gardens to ecosystems caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi supported collect the little-known, state-listed Jacksonia divisa from a the Partnership to make 60 collections of 27 taxa of remote southern part of Kakadu National Park. Subsequent threatened species throughout New South Wales, South germination testing at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. The project Gardens seed bank in Darwin has resulted in the nursery enabled our collectors to secure seed from multiple propagating several seedlings that can now be used populations, greatly increasing the genetic diversity of our for educational displays in the gardens as well as for collections of threatened species. subsequent research.
Rachel Martin, Bessie Coleman and Ben Wirf collecting seeds of Jacksonia divisa in Kakadu National Park. (Photo: John Westaway, GBDBG)
Maintaining the genetic diversity of all our collections is important, not just for those at immediate risk from introduced pathogens. Former ASBP National Coordinator Dr Lucy Sutherland (Director, Botanic Gardens of South Australia and State Herbarium) collects seed of a South Australian species of least concern, Spyridium coalitum on Kangaroo Island, SA. (Photo: Dan Duval, BGSH)
Seedlings of Jacksonia divisa growing in the nursery at GBDBG, Northern Territory. (Photo: Ben Wirf GBDBG)
10 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 GOALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
The Australian Seed Bank Partnership’s national program 5. Securing and strategically managing our resources to to conserve Australia’s native plant diversity has five goals. strengthen and support the work of the Australian Seed The Partnership’s business plan identifies strategies, actions, Bank Partnership to achieve its vision. priorities and outcomes under each goal that guide our work. These outcomes help us to maintain focus and Seed banking for insurance ensure our work is relevant to our vision of ‘a future where The Partnership has delivered a viable supply of seeds to Australia’s native plant diversity is valued, understood and conservation seed banks throughout Australia that will conserved for the benefit of all’. provide a national safety net for Australian plant species The five goals are: through ex-situ conservation. The first phase of the 1000 Species Project continues to benefit from concerted 1. Collecting and storing seed in secure seed banks as efforts across the Partnership, with over 300 species long-term insurance against loss of plant diversity. collected throughout the year. We complement our 2. Conducting research to improve both conservation and collecting efforts with targeted research to improve our restoration outcomes from seed banking. understanding of species biology. We seek opportunities 3. Developing national standards and improving capacity to collaborate and contribute to a shared understanding to enable conservation and restoration of biodiverse of seed conservation that can lead to better plant and resilient ecosystems. conservation—from local restoration initiatives through to international collaborations. 4. Sharing knowledge and engaging the public, private and charity sectors, as well as community members, in the work of the Australian Seed Bank Partnership.
Many of the species we target are hard to spot and difficult to collect. Scouring the landscape for species such as this tiny Juncus ratkowskianus to contribute to our 1000 Species Project requires a keen eye and an excellent knowledge of our native Flora. (Photo: James Wood, RTBG)
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 11 Sharing knowledge – myrtle rust Developing National Standards In early 2017, myrtle rust was discovered on the north We are continuing to work through our Partner island of New Zealand, and our Partners have been sharing organisations, Greening Australia and the Australian information and exploring opportunities for collaboration Network for Plant Conservation, to identify resources that throughout the Pacific with the support of the Millennium will help develop national standards that support the Seed Bank Partnership. Our continued participation and work of our seed collectors and the broader conservation knowledge sharing through the Myrtle Rust Environmental community. This ground work will underpin the standards Impacts Working Group benefits our understanding with targeted research aimed at reducing the resource of the threat to native species throughout Australia. burden on restoration organisations that need to be This collaborative working group is looking to complement confident in the viability of the seed they purchase. this knowledge base with resources that can mobilise We are also looking into how the Partnership can update efforts for collaborative seed collection and research and deliver more nationally consistent germplasm targeting those species most susceptible to myrtle rust. guidelines for the seed banking community.
Securing resources to save more seeds The Partnership contributed beyond our national focus again this year, participating in an international seed The Partnership worked closely with the Office of the science workshop in Perth (see page 9). Our participation Threatened Species Commissioner to develop three contributed to developing the first-ever global standards projects for inclusion in the Threatened Species Prospectus to describe, measure, analyse and record information that was released in February this year. The Partnership about seeds. is seeking support to collect seed from 75 of Australia’s threatened eucalypts over three years through the Safeguarding Australia’s Threatened Gum Trees project. We are also looking to secure investment from the business and philanthropic communities that will enable us to make collections from some of the 46 threatened species on Norfolk Island. Our third project under the Prospectus aims to collect the remaining 40 per cent of species in Alpine Sphagnum Bog and Fen communities not yet secured in ex-situ conservation.
Dentella pulvinata Witjira collected from the Witjira National Park, South Australia. (Photo: Dan Duval, Seed Conservation Centre, BGSH)
12 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 ACHIEVEMENTS AROUND AUSTRALIA TOWARDS OUR 1000 SPECIES TARGET
Western Australia’s Spring Flowering Other collections of note were 23 species of Eremophila Phenomenon occurring in the heart of the arid northern goldfields and mulga country. Five of these species had not previously The spring flowering season of 2016 in the central desert, been banked at the Millennium Seed Bank. Funding mulga and goldfields regions of Western Australia was provided through the Partnership’s 1000 Species Project nothing short of sensational, thanks to consistent rainfall will enable good collections of these species to enhance throughout the area in the preceding autumn and winter Botanic Garden displays of this widespread arid zone genus periods. Our field collectors capitalised on the bumper in future years, and to contribute to our conservation season and made seed collections from taxa that rarely collections for the future. have seed available in such profusion.
Experienced collectors and plant observers recorded the 2016 season in Western Australia as being ‘as good as it gets’, with carpets of wildflowers creating a kaleidoscope of colour through the landscape stretching as far as the eye could see. Far from occurring as monocultures, a closer inspection unveiled a diversity of species, many that are rarely noticed even when flowering and seeding profusely.
Kings Park collectors made good collections of some uncommon annuals, some not collected in recent times. These included Schoenia macivorii, Rhodanthe sterilescens, Rhodanthe rubella and Rhodanthe collina, the Collectors in Western Australia take advantage of the hot and latter considered threatened. All have been banked in dry conditions following the day’s harvest. Drying seeds and conservation collections. Most have horticultural potential, maintaining lower levels of relative humidity will result in greater seed longevity, ensuring collections arrive at the seed particularly Rhodanthe collina, with its preference for shade bank in the best possible condition for viable long-term ex-situ and its delicate white blooms. The Kings Park Nursery is conservation collections. (Photo: Luke Sweedman, BGPA) cultivating this species to develop a domesticated seed line for future displays in the Western Australian Botanic Garden that will highlight the importance of long-term Threatened Flora Seed Centre: conservation for the species. discovering a new population of a threatened species During a September 2016 field trip to the eastern wheatbelt of Western Australia, Natasha Moore and Jazmin Lindley, along with consultant botanist Jennifer Borger from the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), made an immensely exciting discovery. For the first time in 20 years, botanists had identified a new population of Lasiopetalum sp. Mount Caroline (S.D. Hopper SDH 6381). The discovery of this new population is significant for the species, as only one other population is known to exist in the wild.
Chthonocephalus viscosus, a tiny annual species from Staff at the department’s Threatened Flora Seed Centre Western Australia, found growing in the stony soils (TFSC) were alerted to the find and made immediate and red sands of the Gascoyne and Murchison regions. (Photo: Luke Sweedman, BGPA) collection of the seed a high priority for ex‑situ conservation.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 13 To secure seed of the highest quality, seed capture bags South Australia were placed over immature fruit to catch mature seed when shed naturally from the plant. The bags yielded The South Australian Seed Conservation Centre collected a small but valuable collection that is now stored for many new seeds throughout the 2016–17 season, spending safekeeping at the TFSC in Western Australia and at the much of our time in the Lake Eyre herbarium region— Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank in the specifically near the Witjira National Park in the far north of UK. A small number of seeds were used in germination trials the state. This inspiring area contains the Dalhousie Springs to test the viability of the seed. These seedlings are now Complex that is listed in the Environment Protection and being grown by the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 as a threatened ecological and will soon be incorporated into the living collection of community. It also features in the National Heritage List, and plants on display at Kings Park. is home to rare plant species associated with the pools and alkaline mounds of the artesian spring complex and the This collection of seed has proved invaluable, not only for gypseous slopes of the surrounding breakaways. the insurance they provide against extinction of the species in the wild, but also as a reference for the department’s Several trips were made to the region, greatly assisted by botanists. Kelly Shepherd and Carol Wilkins described the six field volunteers. We are particularly grateful to the two seed as part of the formal description of the species, which ecologists who used their leave to be able to participate! was formally named Lasiopetalum moullean (Nuytsia 28 On those trips, we managed to secure collections from (2017): 273–298), in recognition of the local Noongar name 65 species, 48 of these being new to the South Australian for the granite hills and surrounding area where the species Seed Conservation Centre. The year also included a total occurs—Moullean. of 16 seed collections from state-listed threatened species, and more than two hundred plant specimens were collected for the South Australian State Herbarium to use in validating the seed collections and photographs. The most significant collections made from the Witjira National Park included Goodenia anfracta (Mound Springs Goodenia), Sclerolaena fontinalis (Mound Spring Bindyi), Ptilotus aristatus ssp. aristatus (Pink Pussy-tail), and Nicotiana burbidgeae (Dalhousie Springs tobacco bush), which is endemic to the national park.
Another interesting collection, recorded in a swamp on Mt Willoughby Station, south of Marla,was the semi-aquatic herb Goodenia berringbinensis, a species not previously recorded in South Australia. On a return trip to the Witjira National Park, we managed to collect over 200,000 seeds, all of which will be used for future conservation and research. The first collection of seed from the second known population of a Western Australian threatened species – Lasiopetalum moullean. (Photo: Andrew Crawford, DBCA) In addition to the collections made throughout the year, hundreds of photographs of plant species habit, their flowers, fruits and other characteristics have been uploaded to the ‘Seeds of South Australia’ webpage at http://saseedbank.com.au. The site already contains species information and images for 1041 species of the 1321 species that occur in the Lake Eyre herbarium region. We hope to have them all uploaded soon!
14 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 All up, we spent around 40 days in the field, the rugged terrain often dictating whether we used four-wheel drive vehicles, helicopters or light aircraft—all in the pursuit of new seed collections for the 1000 Species Project, the Global Trees Program and a few extra threatened species from Kakadu.
As recently as May, staff from GBDBG and the Northern Territory Herbarium took part in a Bush Blitz expedition over 12 days, where we collected seeds and plant specimens on the Department of Defence Bradshaw Field Training Area. This expansive Defence property is located between the Fitzmaurice and Victoria Rivers in the western Top End, and provided a unique opportunity to collect from a rarely studied area. This trip alone yielded more than 60 seed collections. Many of these had never been banked before, including the near-threatened Boronia filicifolia, Rhynchosia filiformis, and Triumfetta sp. fleshy (C.R.Michell 2169).
For the entire year we managed to collect over 100 species, around 70 of these being new additions to conservation seed banks both here and overseas.
Ptilotus aristatus is a small herb with hairy, pinkish-purple flowers that can cause an allergic reaction in some people if handled incorrectly. This rare species was collected very carefully in the northern part of South Australia. (Photo: Dan Duval, BGSH)
Northern Territory Over the last 12 months, staff from the Seed Bank at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens traversed nearly the entire breadth of the Top End. We collected seed from Ben Wirf from the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens Litchfield National Park and from Kakadu; we collected collecting seeds during the Bradshaw Bush Blitz in May 2017. more still from Garig Gunak Barlu National Park north-east of Darwin, as well as from the Judbarra/Gregory National Park in the Victoria River District. One of our last trips involved scouring Wave Hill and Cattle Creek Stations in the northern Tanami Desert for more precious collections.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 15 Queensland New South Wales
The 2016–17 collecting year was off to a challenging start Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, when the key target for the first major field trip—collecting Australian PlantBank on Queensland’s tallest peak, Mount Bartle Frere in the Wet Tropics—was abandoned after campsite flooding on As the PlantBank seed vault collections steadily increase the first night. Continued torrential rain and driving winds each year, we find that we are often searching for highly made for a gruelling climb back down the mountain the elusive species that take us to increasingly remote and next morning. Despite the setback, the team managed interesting locations. Coupled with searching in remote to recover quite well, targeting alternative locations that locations, the vagaries of the Australian climate ensure that produced some important collections. The team secured there is always an opportunistic element to plant hunting! seed from the endangered aquatic Aponogeton bullosus and from Melaleuca lophocoracorum, a highly restricted and only Superb autumn and winter rains across western New recently described species from the Atherton Tablelands. South Wales in 2016 saw the arid landscape come to life with a spring profusion of native annuals and other Following the first field trip, the team continued making ephemeral plants. Described as a ‘one-in-twenty‑year’ important collections of rare, threatened and unusual event, we knew this was an outstanding and rare species throughout the collecting year. Two notable opportunity to collect seed from these colourful plants for collections were from a new species of grass in the genus the PlantBank seed collection, but also for use in the spring Aristida, and a potentially new species of Melaleuca from displays at the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan. areas to the west of Mackay. The vulnerable Macropteranthes montana was also collected in the northern savanna, and Amazing locations such as Ledknapper Nature Reserve a small but very important collection was secured of the north of Bourke, Paroo Darling National Park near White extremely rare and poorly understood Senna sp. (Davies Cliffs, and Sturt National Park in the extreme north‑western Creek). This small shrub is known in only one location, which corner of the state did not disappoint. Along with at the time of collection consisted of two mature individuals ample opportunities to collect from the proliferation of and about 50 seedlings that had somehow managed to wildflowers, we were lucky enough to collect several escape a previous fire in the area. This is only the third time threatened species from the arid zone. Several inland the species has been sampled botanically, the last collection tree seed collections were also made as part of the having been made in the late 1990s. Global Trees Program, including Corymbia dolichocarpa (Long‑fruited Bloodwood).
Other significant collections included our first quality seed collection of the endangered Eriocaulon carsonii (salt Pipewort), known from only one population in New South Wales, found on the unique artesian mound springs of Peery Lake in Paroo Darling National Park. We also discovered and collected from a new population of the state-listed Kippistia sueadifolia (Fleshy Minuria) that we found near Tibooburra. Ultimately, the seedbank and horticulture teams returned with more than 100 collections.
Seeds for Life collector Simon Bush collecting the highly A seed collecting trip in such a rare and abundant season restricted and recently described Melaleuca lophocoracorum from the Atherton Tablelands. Collecting seed from really ‘ticks all the boxes’, and brings together our key range‑restricted species provides opportunities for objectives of threatened plant seed conservation, and a restoration and research in the hopes of preventing further declines in the population size and distribution of a species. diverse living collection display.
16 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 Gavin Phillips collecting paper daisy seed on desert sand dunes Sturt National Park. (Photo: RBGDT)
Commonwealth missing seed collections in the seed bank. Field work led by Dr Martin Henery with assistance from the Seedy The National Seed Bank at the Australian National Botanic Volunteer program collected 199 individual maternal line Gardens (ANBG) maintained a focus of collecting species accessions from 16 species. The majority of these are new from Kakadu National Park. During two field trips in October to seed banking. 2016 and May 2017, we collected eighteen new tree species for the Garfield Weston Foundations’ Global Trees Program. A highlight of the October trip was collecting jointly with Ben Wirf from George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. Our collecting ranged across Victoria River Downs, Gregory National Park and Kakadu National Park.
ANBG is the lead institution with the South East Bioregion Botanic Gardens partnership, working jointly to deliver a NSW Environmental Trust grant. The grant will allow us to secure listed threatened Pomaderris species from south-east New South Wales. During the 2016–17 collecting season, we made 107 individual maternal line collections from four Pomaderris species. These species are now secured in the seed bank and are available for the research component of the project.
The Friends of ANBG funded a threatened species project to ensure we had a representative genetic complement of a suite of species in the National Seed Bank. These species Tom North, National Seed Bank Curator collecting in Kakadu are represented in the ANBG as living collections but were National Park. (Photo: Joe McAulife, ANBG)
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 17 The Seedy Volunteers have helped us to continue our the previous season revealed a contaminant—27 achenes summer program of collecting from the Southern Tableland of what was very likely to be Isolepis tasmanica. With a Grasslands and Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated potential extant site identified, we revisited that site on Fens, making 34 and 53 collections respectively. These the shores of Lake King William in the spring of 2016. new additions are contributing to the National Seed Bank’s Unfortunately, extremely heavy rainfall over winter put target of collecting the entire flora of the Australian Capital the site 30–50 cm underwater, so locating the plant was Territory by 2020. not possible.
The search then moved to an old record made near Lake Augusta, an area we have collected from several times before. Once again, the rise in water level made it difficult to search for this little sedge. However, the search led us to an area we had not previously surveyed and that in turn led to a couple of happy bonuses. Several threatened species were discovered during the survey, the most significant being Stackhousia pulvinaris. This species was previously known in Tasmania only from an area near Cradle Mountain. This discovery expands the species’ range by over 60 km². Subsequent surveying with the threatened species unit has revealed a fairly healthy population and several spots in the Lake Augusta area where it is ASBP collecting team collecting with Traditional Owners on known to occur. As this species had not been successfully Gregory National Park (Photo: Fanny Karouta-Manasse, ANBG) collected by the Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre, we returned to the larger of the new populations and made a modest collection of 2300 seeds. Unfortunately, this year Tasmania Isolepis tasmanica remained elusive.
Hits and misses: highlights from The second surveying target was Cardamine franklinensis, a plant known from two records in Tasmania, only one Tasmania’s 2017 season of which contains specific date and location data. In The 2016–17 season was unexpectedly busy. We decided November we scrambled up the Sandbanks Tier to the site not to set collecting targets, instead opting to revisit four reported in 1989, hoping to find a population still intact. target species that were missed last year, in the hope of That search and subsequent trips in the surrounding area securing viable collections. We also focused on tracking proved inconclusive. We did find a few small Cardamine down populations of plants that had seldom been plants, but their identity was questionable. On New Year’s recorded and could possibly be collected next season. Two Day, after several fruitless attempts, serendipity struck targets were particularly notable—Isolepis tasmanica and again. We stopped at a small reserve on the Lake Highway Cardamine franklinensis, a pair of small unimposing herbs to look for Leucopogon fraseri, a much more common that are seldom reported and are possibly often overlooked. target that is seldom seen to fruit. Twenty minutes into our search we stumbled upon a little cluster of herbs that we Isolepis tasmanica is an endemic sedge that has been immediately realised was Cardamine franklinensis. Further recorded only 21 times. It was last reported in 1998. It has searching revealed around 40 plants in total. Now that we been on the radar as a possible target for a few years, but have a better idea of the species’ appearance and habitat the lack of information and the difficulty in identifying preference, we will do more surveys next season, and Isolepis species have made it a difficult target. As luck hopefully secure a viable seed collection. would have it, cleaning of a Schoenus collection made in
18 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 What is a C4 species?
All plants fix and process carbon dioxide through photosynthesis using what is known as the C3 pathway. Some plants have developed an additional way of fixing carbon and are known as C4 plants. The C3 plants produce compounds with 3 carbon atoms and predominantly grow in cooler climates with lower light requirements but a greater need for moisture. The C4 plants produce compounds with 4 carbon atoms and tend to favour warmer areas, needing more light but less moisture to survive, such as the recently collected Atriplex paludosa.
RTBG horticultural botanist Natalie Tapson ascending the Sandbanks Tier in search of Cardamine franklinensis. (Photo: RTBG)
Victoria This year has been one of ups (collecting in mountains) and downs (collecting in coastal saltmarsh) for the Female flowers of the Atriplex paludosa (Marsh saltbush). Victorian Conservation Seedbank. Three memorable (Photo: Neville Walsh, RBGV). treks went ever-higher into the mountains to source seed from Lomatia fraseri (Tree lomatia) for the Global Trees Program. At lower altitudes this species appears to suffer extraordinarily high levels of seed predation, but the cooler mountain air and shorter growing season appears to keep the munching blighters at bay. Remnant coastal saltmarsh, only 10 km from Melbourne’s CBD, offered a handy site for collecting C4 saltbush, Atriplex paludosa. As the species is considered rare in Victoria, its close proximity to Melbourne rendered the nearby site serendipitous. This was just as well, as it proved to be a cantankerous fruiter, made more frustrating by some colonies within the larger population consisting of wholly male or wholly female plants. Between the mountains and coast, many other habitats have Gahnia subaequiglumis (Photo: Neville Walsh, RBGV) been sampled, with good spring rains providing fairly rich pickings.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 19 Botanical highlights for us related to our botanical ‘other lives’, as we do more at the Victorian Conservation Seedbank than just collect seed! In February 2017, on a trip to the Errinundra Plateau in East Gippsland, we secured collections of the rare eastern Victorian/south-eastern New South Wales grass Deyeuxia boormanii. Neville Walsh was particularly enthused by this, having raised it to species rank in 2009 but without ever seeing it in the field. The collection was the first for the species for over 30 years. Nearby we found a new population (and a seed collection) of the attractive montane sedge, Gahnia subaequiglumis, considered vulnerable in Victoria and known otherwise from a single site. Previously the species had not been Brachyscome nivalis is found high up in the alpine regions collected in Victoria since 1980. of Australia and is commonly known as the Snow Daisy. Changes to the climate in Australia’s alpine regions will place Andre Messina’s history (see Andre’s profile on page 6) significant pressure on this species so seed collections are includes a detailed PhD study of the taxonomically difficult an important part of conserving the species for future use. (Photo: Neville Walsh, RBGV) daisy bush complex around Olearia phlogopappa (Messina et al., 2013). A seed-collecting trek in Wilsons Promontory National Park enabled Andre to investigate a population of this species that had puzzled him since viewing a few Like most of the Partnership’s work, threatened species are herbarium collections at the National Herbarium of Victoria. our focus. However, it’s great to be able to ‘value-add’ to Opinions varied between it being a new entity, a hybrid, or both the seed collections and our other botanical lives here a highly disjunct population of a form believed restricted to at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. south-eastern Tasmania. Fortunately the seed proved to be We extend special thanks to our long-time volunteer Bob highly fertile and a uniform cohort of seedlings is dispelling Hare, and our new recruit, Josephine Mitchell. They keep the hybrid theory. As the seedlings mature to flowering, we us on our toes, ensure our seeds are clean, dry and on agar, will know if we have a new member of the complex waiting and lend a hand in in the field when needed. We’re ever to be named, or an important, disjunct botanical link with grateful for their good humour and devotion to the south-eastern Tasmania. sometimes less-than-glamorous side of seed banking. Meg Hirst has been working one day a week at the Victorian Conservation Seedbank since 2012, devoting her Reference other life to completing a PhD on the herbaceous daisy Messina, A., Walsh, N.G., Hoebee, S.E. & Green, P.T. (2014). genus Brachyscome. Meg’s PhD is focussing on a group of A revision of Olearia section Asterotriche (Asteraceae: alpine species, trying to tease apart characteristics that Asterae). Australian Systematic Botany 27, 199 –240. cause some species to be rare and some to be common in this habitat. The project has significant implications for some of the rare species under a warming climate scenario. While the project zoomed in on the alpine group, Meg sampled widely across the genus, using seed collected by several of our Partner seed banks (thanks all!) and employing DNA sampling techniques to investigate phylogenetic relationships. Meg recently submitted her PhD but has already published two papers from this work, and a third is currently being edited. Well done Meg!
20 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 FUTURE DIRECTIONS
The Australian Seed Bank Partnership is working towards a future where Australia’s native plant diversity is valued, understood and conserved for the benefit of all. As part of our ambitious program of work, we will focus on the following projects in 2017–18.
Plants on the Precipice Program Our Plants on the Precipice Program continues to be an area of focus for the Partnership. Climate change continues to put pressure on Australia’s native species, and the alpine areas of Australia are not the only landscapes at risk of losing their endangered and endemic species. The Partnership is working with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to mount an ambitious program of work that will see our seed collectors make significant new contributions to the Millennium Seed Bank as we get nearer to 2020.
Global Trees Programme The Partnership will undertake a fourth year of collecting for the Garfield Weston Foundation’s Global Trees Program with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. We have 63 species remaining on our list to reach our target of 380 species The vulnerable Macropteranthes montana from the vine thickets for the program. Our collectors will be scouring the and savanna of northern Queensland. Our Partners continue to country to help achieve this. We will complement our collect threatened species providing much needed insurance populations of seed for research and future conservation of tree seed collections by engaging in the Botanic Gardens Australia’s trees. Conservation International and IUCN/Species Survival Commission Global Trees Assessment to support the assessment of the world’s trees by 2020.
Threatened and endemic species In the coming year, the Partners are heading to the Wet Tropics and Desert Uplands (Qld), Shark Bay, the Pilbara and South-West (WA), Eyre Peninsula (SA), Litchfield National Park and Howard River catchment (NT), Cunninyeuk and Grose River (NSW) and the eastern Victorian ranges and subalpine woodlands (Vic). We will continue to bank seeds from species that are known to be endangered, endemic, or of economic potential. Dodonaea amplisemina is a small shrub found on the red-brown sandy-clay soils east of Geraldton, Western Australia. (Photo: Andrew Crawford, DBCA)
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 21 Seed supply standards Crop wild relatives are wild plant species that are genetically related to common crop species. While humans have The Partnership is committed to pursuing opportunities domesticated some 7000 species of plants over the last for the Australian Network for Plant Conservation to bring 10,000 years, only 12 of these account for 80 per cent of the together a consortium of conservation and restoration foods we regularly consume. agencies to prepare national seed standards. National seed standards will provide guidance for practitioners Over the next year, the Partnership will explore and community groups to realign their seed collecting opportunities with the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership practices in a sustainable manner. This will reduce and Crop Diversity Trust to support our Partners and the pressure on natural populations and ecosystems Australia’s diverse land managers to identify and collect that are being commonly targeted as seed sources. these unique species for future research and conservation. National seed standards will ensure that only high quality We envisage this process will improve our understanding seed is used for restoration, improving the success of these of traditional land management practices, and contribute projects and associated biodiversity outcomes. Having and significantly to the conversation about access and benefit applying seed standards will also improve the efficiency sharing of genetic materials from Australia’s native seed. and cost-effectiveness of seed collection and use for restoration and research. Australian Seed Bank online – Phase 2 Crop Wild Relatives Providing open access to accurate data is an ongoing commitment of the Partnership. We will continue to seek The Partnership is working closely with our Associate opportunities to improve the data we collect and share organisation, the Australian Grains Genebank, to secure through the Australian Seed Bank online. Making our data resources for the collection of crop wild relative species. available enhances opportunities for collaboration across We are already developing training that aims to build the the botanical, conservation and restoration communities. capacity of Indigenous land managers in northern Australia The Partnership and Atlas of Living Australia have to collect and process seed from these important species. developed an accessible online seed information resource so that seed collections data can be shared, retrieved and utilised.
The second phase of this project is still under development. The Partnership is looking at ways to improve how we present and increase the use of our data by engaging natural resource management and landcare groups, community groups, and local government staff.
Ben Wirf, GBDBG and Tom North, ANBG stop on the Stuart Highway south of Katherine in the Northern Territory to confirm the afternoon’s collections. The northern parts of Australia is home to many of the target Crop Wild Relative species, so you may see Ben and Tom on the side of the road again throughout 2018! (Photo: Fanny Karouta-Manasse, ANBG)
22 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 HOW YOU CAN HELP
The Australian Seed Bank Partnership is taking decisive action to safeguard Australia’s plants. Seed banking is a principal tool for the safe and efficient storage of wild plant genetic diversity, and provides a resource and knowledge base to support the management of plant species and communities.
With your help, we can continue our national effort to conserve Australia’s native plant diversity through collaborative and sustainable seed collecting, banking and research, and by sharing our knowledge about Australian plants. With your help, we can make a difference.
Volunteer with one of our Partners
Collecting and banking native seed is a time‑consuming enterprise and we couldn’t do as Hastings River Grass (Potamophila parviflora) in typical much as we do without the help of our dedicated fast‑flowing river habitat in the Nymboida River near Grafton. volunteers. If you would like to join us to collect in the field, sort seeds in the laboratory, or interrogate our collections data, then we would love to hear from you.
Volunteers can also help the Partnership to raise awareness and encourage public support for plant conservation by contributing to the Partnership’s website and social media.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer or would like to find out more about how you can help, please visit our website or contact us at Styphelia perileuca fruit. (Photo: RBGDT) [email protected].
Donations of any size are welcome, as every dollar provides support for the conservation of Australia’s threatened plant species. The Partnership is able to work with you to design a package of support that suits your interests. Your donation will help ensure that future generations continue to benefit from the diversity of Australia’s unique landscapes.
If you would like to donate to the Australian Seed Bank Partnership, contact our National Coordinator on +61 (0) 2 6250 9473 or email: [email protected].
We are looking at ways to make donating to the Partnership even easier, so please visit our website for updates Some species, like the Sclerolaena fontinalis, set such small fruit throughout the year. that it takes a microscope to see them properly. (Photo: Seed Conservation Centre, BGSH) Donations more than $2 are tax-deductable.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 23 ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT for the year ending 30 June 2017
The Australian Seed Bank Partnership is a trading name as a deductable gift recipient under Subdivision 30-BA of The Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 for the operation Incorporated (CHABG), as well as its primary conservation of ‘Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens programme. CHABG is an Association incorporated under Public Fund’. the Australian Capital Territory Association Incorporation The financial report contained within this annual report Act 1991, an Act administered by the Office of Regulatory also includes financial statements for CHABG’s other Services in the ACT. CHABG, a charitable institution programme activities. endorsed by the Australian Taxation Office, is also endorsed
24 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 25 26 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 27 CHABG Inc. Statement of Expenditure and Income
2016–17 2015–16 Income Membership Contribution 11,000 15,000 Donation 250 6,722 Grant Funding - Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - Fieldwork Funds 90,920 - Grant Funding - Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - Global Trees 241,847 - Grant Funding - Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - C4 Grasses 30,197 - Dept of Environment - Phytophthora Research - 50,000 National Seed Science Forum Revenue 898 66,872 Interest 296 304 Total Income 375,408 138,898 Expenditure General Expenditure 5,091 8,087 National Seed Science Forum - 39,524 Dept of Environment - Phytophthora Research 46,500 Grant Funding - Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - Fieldwork Funds 116,395 96,830 C4 Grass Collectionns - Royal Botanic Gardens Kew Funds 34,000 24,000 Grant Funding - Royal Botanic Gardens Kew - Global Trees 224,915 193,583 Total Expenditure 426,901 362,024 Surplus/Deficit (51,513) (223,126)
CHABG Inc. Balance Sheet
2016–17 2015–16 Current Assets Deposit account 224159 98,513 193,200 Deposit account 224167 116,606 74,323 Sundry Debtor 1,287 ATO - GST refundable 223 Total Assets 215,342 268,810 Liabilities ATO - GST Payable 1,955 Net Assets 215,342 266,855
Equity (266,855) (489,981) Surplus/Deficit for year 51,513 223,126 Retained earnings (215,342) (266,855)
28 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 GOVERNANCE OF THE AUSTRALIAN SEED BANK PARTNERSHIP
The Management Committee of The Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens Incorporated (CHABG Inc.) draws on the expertise of senior executives from Australia’s capital city botanic gardens, who guide the strategic direction of the Partnership’s work to ensure it addresses national plant conservation priorities and contributes to international conservation targets.
Members of the Management Committee of the Council in Prof Tim Entwisle Mr Dale Arvidsson 2016–17 were:
•• Prof Tim Entwisle – Director and Chief Executive, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (CHABG Chair November 2015– present) (RBGV)
•• Mr Dale Arvidsson – Curator, Brisbane Botanic Gardens (BBG)
•• Ms Marcelle Broderick – Acting Chief Executive Officer,
Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority (BGPA) Ms Marcelle Broderick Mr Gary Davies •• Mr Gary Davies – Director, Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG)
•• Mr Bryan Harty – Director, George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens (GBDBG)
•• Dr Brett Summerell – Director, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust (RBGDT)
•• Dr Lucy Sutherland – Director, Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, South Australia (BGSH) Mr Bryan Harty Dr Brett Summerell
•• Dr Judy West – Executive Director, Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG)
We would like to recognise the contribution of Mr Mark Fountain – Deputy Director, Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens; Ms Janice Goodwins – former Acting Director, Botanic Gardens of South Australia; Mr Mark Webb – Chief Executive Officer, Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority; Ms Lesley Hammersley – Director, Horticulture and Dr Lucy Sutherland Dr Judy West Conservation, Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority; and Dr Peter Cuneo – Manager, Seedbank & Restoration Research, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust.
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 29 The Australian Seed Bank Partnership grew out of the Royal National Coordinator Australian Botanic Gardens, Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank Project Seed Bank Partnership that supported Australian institutions to help achieve the Project’s goal of banking 10 per cent of the world’s plant Dr Lucy A. Sutherland (July–October) species by 2010. We continue to support Kew’s endeavour Ms Jessica Pink (A/g National Coordinator, to bank 25 per cent of the world’s flora by 2020. October–December)
The Partnership program is carried out in collaboration Ms Elly Love (A/g National Coordinator, with our partner organisations (see page 33). January–February) Other organisations (our Associates) assist with individual Mr Damian Wrigley (March–June) projects that contribute to the overall program (see page 32). The program is managed by a National Steering The role of the National Coordinator is to provide strategic Committee and led by the National Coordinator provided leadership and program management to oversee the by the Director of National Parks (through the Australian implementation of the Partnership’s business plan, policy National Botanic Gardens). and operations. The Coordinator works with the members of the Partnership to secure the necessary funds for The Australian Seed Bank Partnership is supported by operations and programs that will realise the business plan financial and in-kind contributions (e.g. scientific expertise, for the Partnership. project management, fieldwork, information management, promotion and marketing) from partner organisations, Following the departure of Dr Lucy Sutherland in October through philanthropic and public donations and the 2016, the Partnership was pleased to welcome back former generous time commitment from many dedicated graduates from the Department of the Environment and volunteers. Our business plan outlines our national Energy to continue the work of the Coordinator until a program, which includes specific strategies, actions permanent replacement could be appointed. and timelines for achieving our vision: http://seedpartnership.org.au/about/reports. National Steering Committee The National Steering Committee brings together a team of leading experts from the members of the Partnership, who help deliver real plant conservation outcomes. These experts range from seed scientists, botanists, taxonomists and ecologists to horticulturalists and plant conservation ambassadors.
30 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 Members of the National Steering Committee during 2016–17 were:
•• Dr Elinor Breman – Program Coordinator, Millennium •• Dr Paul Gibson-Roy – Lead Scientist Eastern Australia, Seed Bank Partnership, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Greening Australia
•• Dr Anne Cochrane – Committee Member, Australian •• Dr David Merritt – Senior Research Scientist, Western Network for Plant Conservation at the Threatened Flora Australian Seed Technology Centre, Botanic Gardens and Seed Centre Parks Authority
•• Dr Peter Cuneo – Manager, Seedbank and Restoration •• Mr Tom North – Seed Bank Curator, Australian National Research, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Botanic Gardens
•• Dr Andrew Crawford – Research Scientist, Threatened •• Mr Luke Sweedman – Curator, Western Australian Seed Flora Seed Centre Technology Centre, Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority
•• Mr Dan Duval – Seed Research Officer, Botanic Gardens •• Mr Neville Walsh – Senior Conservation Botanist, Royal and State Herbarium, South Australia Botanic Gardens Victoria
•• Mr Graeme Errington – Seedbank Curator, Royal •• Mr James Wood – Seed Bank Manager, Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Botanical Gardens.
•• Dr Jenny Guerin – Seed Research Officer, Botanic •• Mr Ben Wirf – Nursery / Seedbank Manager, George Gardens and State Herbarium, South Australia Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens
•• Mr Jason Halford – Senior Botanic Officer and Seed Bank Manager, Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mt Coot-tha
Goodenia anfracta Witjira National Park. (Photo: Seed Conservation Centre, BGSH)
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 31 THANK YOU—SUPPORTERS AND ASSOCIATES
The Australian Seed Bank Partnership would like to thank all Associates our supporters and Associates. Your resources and in-kind support have made significant contributions to our mission •• Atlas of Living Australia to conserve Australia’s native plant diversity. •• Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy We look forward to working with our supporters and Associates in the coming years to achieve our vision of a •• Australian Grains Genebank future where Australia’s native plant diversity is valued, •• Botanic Gardens of Australia and New Zealand Inc. understood and conserved for the benefit of all. •• Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research Supporters •• CSIRO •• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew •• Global Crop Diversity Trust
•• Director of National Parks (Australian Government) •• Grains Research and Development Corporation
•• Department of the Environment and Energy through the •• Society for Ecological Restoration Australasia Threat Abatement Plan for disease in natural ecosystems •• University of New England caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi
•• Garfield Weston Foundation Volunteers
•• Grantham Foundation •• Anna Moreing
•• Rae Allen
32 Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 PARTNER ORGANISATIONS OF THE AUSTRALIAN SEED BANK PARTNERSHIP
Australian Network for Plant Conservation Inc. (ANPC) South Australian Seed Conservation Centre Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, Australian PlantBank South Australia (BGSH) The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust (RBGDT) Tasmanian Seed Conservation Centre Brisbane Botanic Gardens Conservation Seed Bank Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens (RTBG) Brisbane City Council (BBG) The Victorian Conservation Seedbank George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV) Parks and Wildlife Commission of the Northern Territory (GBDBG) The Western Australia Seed Technology Centre Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority (BGPA) Greening Australia (GA) Threatened Flora Seed Centre Millennium Seed Bank Partnership Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew) Attractions, Western Australia (DBCA) National Seed Bank Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG)
Australian Seed Bank Partnership | Annual Report 2016–17 33 Australian Seed Bank Partnership Contact: Damian Wrigley c/o Australian National Botanic Gardens t: +61 (0) 2 6250 9473 GPO Box 1777 e: [email protected] Canberra ACT 2601 www.seedpartnership.org.au/ Australia
ABN: 58153442365
CHABG Inc. (trading as the Australian Seed Bank Partnership) is dedicated to supporting the protection, conservation and enhancement of Australian plants and their ecosystems. CHABG Inc. relies on support for the Australian Seed Bank Partnership Program and its other programs to achieve its vision of a future where native plant diversity is valued, understood and conserved for the benefit of all. Please help us to conserve Australia’s unique flora and plant communities today and for the future. CHABG Inc. is a charitable institution, with deductable gift recipient status (item 1), and operates the Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens Public Fund.